Toy bowling-alley.



W. ELTOELLE.

TOY BOWLING ALLEY. APPLICATION FILED- APR. 23. 1915.

Patented Feb. 22,1916.-

WILLIAM E. TOELLE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TOY BOWLING-ALLEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1916.

i Application filed April 28, 1915. Serial No. 23,354.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. Toma, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Toy Bowling-Alleys, of which improvement the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a miniature toy bowling alley, in which the ball is delivered by an image, preferably in the form of a man, to be manipulated by the players, the principal object being to provide a mechanical figure having a swinging arm and hand adapted to hold and deliver the ball in a manner similar to that practised by the players in a regular bowling game.

Another object is to provide for an adjustment of the position of the figure transversely of the alley in order that skill may be exercised in the placing of the figure in the best position to knock down the pins. \Vith these and other objects in view, my invention comprises the particular combinations hereinafter more fully described and set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a toy bowling alley and an image embodying my improvement; Fig. 2, a plan of the alley and transversely sliding base plate with the image removed,

and Fig 3, a front elevation of the image with certain parts brokenaway in order to more fully show the mechanism.

As shown in the drawing, the alley board, 5, may be formed in the usual manner, of wood or other suitable material, having gutters, 6, and a place for setting up the pins, 7, at one end. At the other end is located the base plate, 8, mounted to slide transversely of the alley and having a portion, 9, engaging a transverse groove, 10, in the alley board. This connection is designed to have sufficient frictional resistance to retain the base plate in any position to which it may be adjusted. On the base plate is mounted a toy figure representing the image of a man, 11, having an arm, 12, and hand, 13, for holding the ball, 14. In bowling, players usually hold the ball by inserting the thumb and one finger, usually the second, in holes formed in the ball for this purpose, and the hand of the image is designed to hold the ball inthe same way, the thumb, 15, being inserted in one hole, and the finger, 16, in the other hole in the ball. In order that these members may have a suflicient grip upon the ball to hold 1t during the swinging movement of the arm, one of the members, such as the finger, 16, 1s movable, being pivotally mounted on the bell crank, 17, having a spring, 18, normally clamping said finger against the ball. For releasing this finger, a pin, 19, is carried by the hand, and is adapted to engage a fixed projection, 20, at the forward position of the arm, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The arm, 12, is mounted to swing at the shoulder, being supported on the end of a shaft, 21, having bearings fixed in the body of the figure, and provided with a crank arm, 22, and a spring, 23, normally tending to swing the arm forward. A trigger mechanism, such as pivoted arm, 24, with spring, 25, and push rod, 26, is provided for holding the arm, 12, in its retracted position and releasing same when desired. The rod, 26,

may be connected to the head, 27, of the ,image, and a notch, 28, may be formed in the arm, 12, to permit the same to swing past the trip, 24, when the latter is pushed down to its lower position.

After the pins, 7, have been properly placed upon the board, the image is operated by first placing the ball upon the hand, inserting the thumb and finger into the holes in the ball, and then swinging the arm back to its retracted position in which the spring, 23, is stretched and the trip, 24, projects in front of the arm, 12, retaining it in this position. The player then slides the image along the transverse groove, 10, to what he regardsas the most advantageous position for knocking down the pins, and

then depresses the head and the trip lever,

the position of the image may be adjusted transversely of the alleyas desired.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1, In a ball projecting toy, the combination of an image having a movable arm and hand provided with projecting fingers adapted to extend into holes in a ball for holding the same, and means for swinging said arm to deliver the ball.

2. In a ball projecting toy, the combination of an image having a movable arm, a hand on said arm and provided with a projecting finger adapted to extend into a hole in a ball, and means for swinging said arm to deliver the ball,

3. In a ball projecting toy, the combination of an image having a movable arm, a hand on said arm and provided with projecting fingers adapted to extend into'holes 111 a ball for holding the same, one of said fingers being movable, means for swinging the arm, and a device for tripping said movable finger during the forward movement of the arm.

4. In a ball projecting toy, the combina- 1,17awo tion of an image having a movable arm, a hand on said arm and provided with projecting fingers adapted to extend into holes in a ball for holding the same, one of said fingers being movable, a spring acting on said movable finger, another spring for swinging the arm forward, and a tripping nism.

WILLIAM E. TOELLE. Witnesses:

EDWARD A. VVRIGHT, A. S. FOWLER. 

